Washington Legal Foundation calls out rogue lawyers, Scruggs

On Sept. 24, Daniel J. Popeo, Chairman of the Washington Legal Foundation, ran this advertorial in the New York Times regarding recent legal action taken against trial attorneys and judicial officials. He sited several examples, including the criminal contempt charges against Richard “Dickie” Scruggs. A similar article by Mr. Popeo recently ran in the Chicago Examiner.

Special prosecutors charged Mr. Scruggs and his law firm with criminal contempt in August in a Hurricane Katrina insurance dispute. A motion to summon Scruggs and the Scruggs Law Firm was also filed by the prosecutors, who requested that the court schedule an arraignment in the contempt of court case.

In June, U.S. District Judge William M. Acker requested that an attorney for the government prosecute Mr. Scruggs and his law firm for criminal contempt for willfully violating the court's Dec. 8, 2006, preliminary injunction in a Hurricane Katrina insurance dispute. In July, Judge Acker named Charles E. Sharp and Joel Williams (PDF 97 KB) to serve as special prosecutors after U.S. Attorney Alice Martin declined the judge's request to prosecute Scruggs and his firm.

For more information, please read the Memorandum Opinion (PDF 186 KB) . This development only further supports State Farm’s motion to disqualify Mr. Scruggs from the McIntosh case.

McIntosh Background
McIntosh v. State Farm is a case resulting from damage in Mississippi related to Hurricane Katrina. The plaintiffs in the case, whose home was insured by State Farm, contend State Farm chose to reject an engineering report indicating moderate damage to their home was due to wind, and instead chose to evaluate their claim based on an engineering report indicating the majority of damage was due to flooding.

Read a press release from the Washington Legal Foundation calling for a full investigation of Scruggs.